‘Electric sky jeep’ plane completes maiden flight

A UK-based aviation project called NUNCATS has successfully completed the maiden flight of an all-electric aircraft called the ‘Electric SkyJeep’. Going forward, the goal of the project is to expand healthcare availability and save lives by transporting doctors, medical supplies and other cargo to remote areas of the world with zero emissions.

NUNCATS started as just an idea for co-founders while in college and took 15 years to come to fruition in 2019. Now existing as a not-for-profit social enterprise in the UK, he aims to tackle climate change one flight at a time, but with electric aviation. Power technology and renewable energy sources such as solar.

The name itself is an acronym that the project describes its design philosophy.

N.o cormorantneed N.gaudy C.community AhWhen T.shipping S.service.

NUNCATS states that the last four letters can also stand for “Community Alternative Transport Solutions” or “Clean Air Transport Solutions”. Following the project’s first successful flight on an all-electric SkyJeep plane, NUNCATS is beginning to achieve all these acronyms, piecemeal.

Nunkats ‘Electric SkyJeep’ plane goes overseas

The team recently announced that an all-electric plane has completed its maiden flight from Old Buckenham Airfield in Norfolk, South England. This aircraft started as a Zenith CH750 kit. The NUNCATS team removed the combustion engine and gas tank in favor of the electric motor and battery pack.

Charging the ‘Electric Sky Jeep’ plane is supported by a solar station on the ground in Old Buckenham (see video below). NUNCATS co-founder Tim Bridges said following the successful first all-electric flight:

No one else builds electric aircraft this way. Our aim is to provide low-cost, robust and practical aircraft for use in rural and hard-to-reach communities, such as doctors in Uganda and rural doctors in India.

I knew it would work, but it’s nice to see it in action. Now the next step is to complete the second plane and find the funding to duplicate it and put it into the field for testing.

As soon as funding allows, we want to introduce this to the community so that it can make a real difference. There are now 1 billion people in the world without medical care, and he will die 5,000 of them today alone. This can be a real lifesaver.

NUNCATS may have achieved success with its ‘electric SkyJeep’ plane, but there is still work to be done to reach its goal of saving lives around the world through clean, agile aviation. The project continues to seek backers and sponsors to fund its development.

An “Electric SkyJeep” kit is also available for purchase as a greener option for sport flyers.